Laloo strikes a discordant note on peace mission

TNNAug 22, 2003, 01.36am IST

NEW DELHI: The MPs who recently visited Pakistan on a peace mission, were divided over the communique issued by the organisers of the trip.

The communique found its way into the print, though some of the members of the parliamentary delegation are learnt to have objected to its phraseology. Sources said that Laloo Prasad Yadav as well as his RJD colleague Prem Gupta objected to the stress the communique puts on the need not to let India's concerns over continuing cross-border terrorism come in the way of a bilateral dialogue.

The RJD members' objections to pressing for a dialogue independent of whatever happens on terrorism front was the reason why the communique could not be released earlier. The two were surprised when the draft communique was cleared without accommodating their suggestions.

Away from the adulatory throngs in Pakistan, Mr Yadav is believed to have argued for the inclusion of a bit in the communique which questions Islamabad's efforts to wash its hands off the jehadi violence. Their view is thus reflected in the communique: "Joint steps be devised to remove this major road block of cross-border terrorism in the path of peace".

The tone of the communique is quite upbeat on the prospects of peace with Pakistan, and may appear to be out of line with the mood inside Parliament as revealed by the debate on the Congress-sponsored no-trust motion against the Vajpayee government. The two-day rhetorical contest saw the Opposition trying to poke fun at the government for not following through "aar paar ki ladai" (fight to the finish) formulation scripted by the NDA government in the aftermath of the jehadi attack on Parliament.

The Opposition also questioned the BJP on going back on its 'national safety' standards. BJP successfully marketed itself as a better guarantor of national security in the 90s, but now finds itself constrained by the harsh geopolitical realities. It has been unable to deliver on its muscular promises, such as the one of "hot pursuit across the border".

BJP's attempts to give peace a chance have also not brought any respite with its opponents swiftly switching to the hardline rhetoric that for long was BJP's USP. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee realised this when Opposition tried to blame the jehadi incursions in Kargil on the Lahore bus trip. Though the gambit did not work fully because of the success of the armed forces, there seems to be not enough room for any bold peace initiatives.

The speeches in the Lok Sabha during the past 48 years have only helped underline this. On Tuesday, for instance, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav took a break from his trade-mark peace advocacy to take a swipe at the Prime Minister's latest peace overtures towards Pakistan.

The shrinking space for peace was evident once again when Congress' PR Dasmunshi accused the government of trying to appease Pakistan by abandoning celebrations to commemorate the Kargil victory.